SAVORMake Pok Pok’s Famous Wings at HomePok Pok built a national empire on addictive Vietnamese chicken wings. Meet the man behind the recipe.

4By Benjamin Tepler Published Tuesday, October 1, 2013 at 9:10am

Pok Pok’s Ich “Ike” Truong

IMAGE: AUSTIN BUSH, COURTESY TEN SPEED PRESS

Eight years ago, inside a jury-rigged takeout shack on SE Division Street, chef Andy Ricker struggled in vain to reproduce a roadside Vietnamese fish-sauce chicken wing. This was before the James Beard awards, the three New York spinoffs, and the relentless national media attention. It was just Ricker and Ich “Ike” Truong, his first and only employee (Ricker’s Pok Pok empire now employs 170), trying to crack the code of one of Southeast Asia’s most addictive drinking snacks.

Truong now works as an engineer for Pok Pok, but back in 2005, the Vietnam native helped Ricker perfect a formula for the chicken wings—sealed in a sticky-sweet glaze stippled with bites of caramelized garlic—that would catapult the humble food shanty into the national spotlight. Now, after hundreds of thousands of pounds of wings fried on two coasts, the secret is finally out. You can find the coveted recipe inside the long-awaited Pok Pok cookbook, hitting shelves October 29, along with nearly 100 obsessively perfected recipes and techniques for cooking Thai food in America. Be warned: there are no shortcuts—but the intricacies are what make Pok Pok exceptional. And this particular adaptation is a tribute to one of the cult-forming dishes that put Portland on the culinary map, and to the man who made it possible. Raise a wing to Ike.

(1) CHOP garlic finely, sprinkle salt, and chop together for about 15 more seconds.(2) SCRAPE into a small bowl, add warm water, and let sit for a few minutes. (3) POUR through a fine sieve set over a bowl, and use the back of a spoon to stir and smoosh garlic against the sieve, reserving leftover garlic. (4) ADD fish sauce and sugar to bowl and stir until dissolved. (5) PLACE chicken wings in a separate large bowl, add 1/2 cup of fish sauce mixture (reserve the rest in the refrigerator), and toss well. (6) COVER and refrigerate wings for at least four hours, or overnight, tossing every hour or so.